1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of the upper section of a vehicle body and, more particularly, to an upper body structure around center pillars.
2. Description of Related Art
An upper body section of a car body includes right and left front pillars, each front pillar being comprised of an outer pillar panel and an inner pillar panel secured to each other and being provided with a pillar reinforcement panel disposed along the outer pillar panel. Brackets, through which a door is hinged, are secured to gussets disposed inside the outer pillar panel.
Such an upper body structure is known from, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-122175. In the upper body structure described in the above-mentioned publication, which is shown in FIG. 10, of this publication a front pillar, which is bent backward at its upper half portion, comprises inner and outer pillar panels, upper half portions of which are formed with flanges extending backward and secured to each other so as to form a generally triangular reinforcement section. The lower portion of the center pillar is provided with a gusset having a U-shaped cross section. This gusset is placed in contact with inner surfaces of the inner and outer pillar panels and has an extension extending backward into the reinforcement section so as to be secured between flanges of the inner and outer pillar panels.
However, with the upper body structure, the structural strength between the front pillar and a dash panel is not sufficient, so that the upper half portion of the center pillar is relatively poor in structural rigidity when twisted.